If you can't get up for a game like this, what does that say for ya. Sad. Those Pistons fans are so...so...mean. How dare they boo a potential Hall of Famer? Poor millionaire.

Oh yeah, Bballjay thanks for the joke. That's the closest you ever came to saying Darko didn't play well...you still didn't say it though. "Darko was nervous." Hilarious. That's what my mom would say if I stunk it up on the court. "Baby, it's alright.. you was just nervous." lol.

Magic are 2-4 with Darko starting. Watch out league...here comes the Magic!

I didn't read the article, but Darko did have recent comments about the Pistons.

Everyone from around here knows, even if we don't like one another, as soon as someone from the outside starts talking trash, we suddenly become like brothers.

All jokes aside, Darko actually didn't look that bad to me. Cripes is he fast, and boy can he defend the P&R. Obviously his offense and rebounding are not a lot to write home about, but his new desire to get physical is refreshing.

But as dba wrote, how did we win letting our opponent play what was statistically not a terrible game?

But as dba wrote, how did we win letting our opponent play what was statistically not a terrible game?

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It was all about better ball movement. The Pistons had 27 assists against 13 turnovers, while the Magic had 16 assists and 22 turnovers. A lot of those turnovers were Howard's fault--he did have 26 points and 15 boards, but he turned it over 6 times. Detroit got 9 more shots from the floor than the Magic did, which isn't usually that huge a disparity, but the Pistons made it count by making 8 more of those extra shots. Magic had way more FTs in the first half, but they bricked a bunch of them. Still, even if they hadn't clanged it up from the line, they would have been down maybe 11 or 12 at the half instead of 19. I.e., maybe it wouldn't have been a blowout at that point, but the missed FTs weren't the main reason they lost.

Don't know if it is a coincidence that they have the 3 former Pistons (Arroyo, Darko & Hill) picture taken together over at Detnews. Kind of funny though. Arroyo looks like he's dreaming, Darko can't bear to hear the crowd and Hill looks like he wished he was still be playing for the Pistons or all 3 of them still do.

Anyway, GREAT GAME!

My petty comments:

D Davis - Why is he not play regularly, only Flip knows. Delfino - team high with 7 rebounds. I think he leads all small guard/ small forwards in the NBA in that category with the minutes he's getting.Hunter - if only he can shoot like this consistently. Or even if his shots is off once or twice every month, we wouldn't be talking about getting another guard before the trade deadline.Webber - if a poke in the eye makes him shoot like that, somebody please poke his eyes every game in the playoffs.12th Man - Who's our 12th man in this game? Why didn't he play? Why risk Hunter getting a freak injury???

One thing I found out tonight. Instead of parking at the Palace and paying for it and waiting so long to get out afterwards, we ate at a restaurant across the street. They had a $3. per person shuttle that picked us up right at the East exit right after the game and we were in our cars inside of 10 minutes, driving away with no problem. I got on northbound I-75 and made tracks out of there. I think the place was called Tops, or something like that. I believe there are at least two who provide the same service.

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yeah Hoops does that too and it's very convenient. big buck brewery used to, but they closed.

sheed and webber took darko to school tonight. it was nice to see sheed focused on the game and focused on showin darko he's got a loooooong way to go. we dominated despite the magic getting tons of calls and free throws. howard still turns it over too much and can't hit free throws.

and arroyo...he seemed a little too happy / friendly / playful when he got on the court, while lindsey and chauncey handled their business and went to work.

great game overall - 45 bench points, no starter played excessive minutes, 2 guys in double figures off the bench, and even maxiell had 6 boards. and goooooo draft pick!!

What worries me is that while we are forcing turnovers, we are not playing good FG% defense. One could infer that we are trying to steal possessions, not challenge shooters.

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That is how you have to play the Magic. When they actually get the ball inside, they shoot an incredibly high percentage. However, they turn it over more than any other team.

Look at Dwight Howard's last 10 games. He has shot 88-116 from the field! That's 76%... Shaq-like. But, he has turned the ball over 43 times. That means that they only score 55% of the time when they try to feed him.

II still can't quite get over the glee that so many of the posters here show when Darko does not play well. That the the boos every time he touched the ball. I was hoping that it would have made him a little angry and make him play better but it seemed to have a deflating effect. It seemed like he lost lhis last friend. I still don't know what he himself actually did to piss off so many people. But that is just sports, I guess.

There is a logical explanation for all of the booing, and it comes from someone who should know. From the article max linked to, it seems that many Detroit fans are:

1. verbose
2. unable to play basketball
3. intoxicated

Now that's a bad combination.

"I thought there were going to be haters, guys who don't like me," Milicic said. "That's part of it when you buy a ticket. They come to talk. They can't play. They come to talk and get drunk and yell. The crowd here is tough."

I was so mad being there (Detroit)," Milicic told the Orlando Sentinel. "I was just so happy to get out of there. As soon as I got here, I tried to focus on Orlando.".....................THATS WHY HE WAS BOOED...who the hell does he think he is. He' s the biggest bust in Piston history or at least since Jimmie Walker over Earl Monroe. I hope u Darko lovers enjoyed his performance last night and appreciate that as wrong as Joe was to draft him , he was just as smart to trade him.